BIG FELLA: Adam Janik. Submitted 20/01/13. With a series of photos of a 90cm, 18kg jew hooked in Newcastle Harbour on January 19.

BIG FELLA: Adam Janik. Submitted 20/01/13. With a series of photos of a 90cm, 18kg jew hooked in Newcastle Harbour on January 19.

SISTER ACT: Chelsea Gay and her flathead.

BIG HIT: Tri Tran with his fish of the week, a 26kg kingfish speared off Broughton Island last Friday.

TOO GOOD: Liam Beazley and his big flattie hooked near Pulbah Island.

SISTER ACT: Miah Gay and her bream.

GOOD ONE: Rick Martens with his 12kg jewie hooked in the Hunter River.

BIG FELLA: Adam Janik. Submitted 20/01/13. With a series of photos of a 90cm, 18kg jew hooked in Newcastle Harbour on January 19.

BIG LIFT: Lara Perkins (7) of Millfield caught this stunning Bream while holidaying with her family at Laurieton. Submitted 23/1/13

PROUD: Three-year-old Hugh Thomas from Kurri Kurri with a 85cm flathead he hook when live baiting for kingfish in Nelson Bay.

CUTE: Andrea Harvie, aged 5 caught this bream while fishing with her Dad, Greg, in Newcastle Harbour. It weighed 500gm and was 27cm long. She baits, casts and lands all her own catches. Submitted 18/01/13

HAMMERED: Phillip Fraser: Submitted 22/1/13. Large Snapper. 79cm long and weighted 6.6kgs. Great Day out. P.S the fish was delicious. Caught at Nelson Bay on the December 29 while on a Hammerhead Fishing Charter.

HEAVE: Seven year old Riley Vale from Charlestown with his 84cm flathead caught in Lake Macquarie. Submitted 22/1/13

LAKE Macquarie Game Fishing Club have been forced to postpone their Big Fish Bonanza tournament a week.

The iconic event which kicks off the local tournament season each year was due to run this weekend.

But predicted adverse conditions left LMGFC with little choice.

Big seas and high winds are forecast and organisers decided it would be wiser to wait a week.

A lot of sand has been ripped off local beaches and deposited on Swansea bar over the last seven days.

That combined with low tides in the morning and afternoon each day this weekend would make a hazardous bar crossing even more dangerous.

‘‘We’re itching to get out, but it’s been a waiting game,’’ Jason ‘‘One For’’ Nunn, who will fish on Running Bear, said midweek.

‘‘There’s been a lot of sand deposited on the bar and tides aren’t that favourable.

‘‘The big question once they decide to run will be whether to fish out wide, where the current is running four knots with super-warm water, or in close, where we’ve seen stacks of juvenile blacks up and down the coast.’’

‘‘No one’s been able to pre-fish out wide, so we don’t know if the bait is stacking up out there and whether there’s any stripes about.

‘‘Maybe this big weather will have slowed the current down. It will be interesting to see what happens.’’

Pretty bad timing

THE Big Fish postponement is unfortunate we enjoyed our first good marlin bite of the season last weekend before the weather blew up.

Several boats out of Port Stephens reported double-figure hook-ups fishing in close off the Gibbers, north of Hawks Nest.

Billistic got 10 fish, as did Freedom, while Diversion reported eight and Obsession released seven.

‘‘There’s been really strong reports coming down the coast since December, from the Gold Coast, off Coffs, South West Rocks and it looks like they’ve got to here now,’’ Paul ‘‘Ringo’’ Lennon, from Tackleworld Port Stephens, said.

NEWCASTLE Game Fishing Club held a successful social day last Saturday.

Larry Curtis, fishing on Ningaloo, tagged four juvenile blacks just south of Nelson Bay.

‘‘In late 2012, we had the boat north of Fraser Island and we were getting 12, 13 juvenile blacks a day. These are the same fish here now. They’ve moved down,’’ Larry said.

‘‘I’m not sure what’s going to happen this weekend. We’ll have ordinary water for a while and I suspect the bait will break up.’’

Newcastle Game Fishing Club incorporated last year and has 84 members.

It’s hoping to affiliate with the NSW Game Fishing Association in July.

Until then, experienced boats like Weapon, Iona, Gametime and Rocket, all based in Newcastle, will compete for their old clubs this tournament season.

‘‘We’re all respectful of our old clubs,’’ Larry said. ‘‘We’ve been getting more and more inquiry and demand for a game fishing club to operate out of Newcastle, so this seems the natural way to go about it. Until we’re affiliated, we can only fish socially and not as a club.’’

The next tournament will be the Nelson Bay Shootout in two weeks before the annual Interclub showdown the last weekend of February.

Jew, bream move in

ON the non-game fishing scene, any time you get seven inches of rain means it’s prime time for jew and bream in local estuaries.

There will be a lot of colour coming out of the Myall Lakes system, Newcastle Harbour and Lake Macquarie.

So, anywhere along the line between fresh and salt should be productive as jew and bream move in to feast on what’s being pushed down.

Fish of the Week winner Andrew Bateman got nine jew off his kayak in Newcastle Harbour last Friday. He kept one.

Local beaches will take a week or so to reform but, once they do, there will be a lot of species feeding on what’s been stirred up too. Same off the rocks.

Before the blow, anglers were getting great whiting, tailor and jew from Samurai Beach right down to Blacksmiths.

There’s been some nice reds coming off the reefs around Broughton Island, the 21 and V reefs, and Cod Rock.

If you happen to catch one, they’re more than likely big breeding females and should be released if possible after a happy snap. People aren’t breaking the law if they keep a fish, but it’s all about sustainable fishing. If they’ve got roe, let ’em go for future generations to enjoy.

Poll result

ADAM Janik, Jason Maling and Ronny Watt claimed the People’s Choice for Fish of the Week on the Herald’s online poll with 64.3per cent of the vote for their big jewie hooked in Newcastle Harbour.

Andrea Harvie was second on 14.3per cent. Phillip Fraser, Mick Stone and Riley Vale finished equal third with 7.1per cent.